1 


G-eorge   S,   Bishop 


Ten  Years*    Review 


BX95I7 
RBB6 


OF 


Pftfe 


0^ 


Logical  se*!^ 


.5.6-4 


A 


TEN  YEARS'  REVIEW. 

le  Place,  History  and  Responsibility  of  the 
Reformed  Church. 


A  SERMON 


:ACHED    SUNDAY    MORNING,    APRIL    19th,   1885. 


AT  THE 


NNIVERSARY   SeRVICE, 


IN  THE 


9   &'^*  <!^*9 


BY  THE 


REV.  GEORGE  S.  BISHOP,  D,  D, 


NEW  YORK : 

RiCHARO    BR'NKERH0"F,    34   Vesey   £t  , 

1885. 


lUc,    >Jfic    UcH'r, 


SERMONS  BY  THE  REV.  GEO.  S.  BISHOP,  D.  D. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  GRACE. 

SHUT  UP  TO  FAITH. 

ENTHUSIASM :  PAUL  BESIDE  HIMSELF. 

WHY  DID  GOD  CREATE  THE  UNIVERSE? 

SECULARISM  AND  THE  TRUSTEESHIP. 

ALLEGED  CONTRADICTIONS  IN  THE  Bir>LE. 

EXPOSITION  OF  REFORMED  PRINCIPLES. 

WESTMINISTER  AND  HEIDELBERG. 

THE  VOICE  IN  DARKNESS. 

THE  ATONEMENT. 

REPROBATION. 

ELEMENTS  OF  GOSPEL  COMFORT. 

THE  EGG-SHELL  OF  A  CREED. 

SELF  EXAMINATION  AND  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

HOLY  BAPTISM,  A  TRUE  SACRAMENT. 

TEN  YEARS'  REVIEW. 

Any  of  the  above  may  be  had  on  application  to  the  Consistory,  or  from  tlie  publisher, 
Richard  Brinkorhoff,  34  Vescy  street,  New  York. 


The  Tenth  Anniversary  of  tlie  founding  of  the  First  Reformed  Church,  of  Orange, 
N.  J.,  was  celebrated  by  appropriate  services  on  Sunday  and  Monday,  April  19th  and 
20th,  which  were  attended  by  great  congregations. 

The  floral  decorations  were  superb.  Among  them  figured  a  large  ''X""  in  white 
flowers— the  dates  187-5-1885,  in  Azaleas,  and  the  blended  colors  orange  and  blue,  bear- 
ing the  Crest  and  Escutcheon  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  the  ancient  Coat  of  Arms  of  the 
Church. 

The  service— after  the  Salutation,  Lord's  Prayer,  Ten  Commandments,  and  chanting 
of  the  psalm,  "God  be  Merciful,'' — was  broken  by  the  Sacrament  of  Holy  Baptism, 
applied  to  Lucy  Merrill  Lindsley,  a  granddaughter  of  Mr.  John  L.  Merrill,  one  of  the 
Elders  of  the  church.  Then  followed  the  responsive  reading  of  Psalm  ciii — Prayer, 
the  Scripture  Lesson  I.  Sanj.  xxii.,  the  Hymn,  "Crown  the  Saviour,"  and  finally  the 
Sermon,  which  here  follows. 

On  Sunday  afternoon  the  Sabbath  school  held  its  anniversary,  anticipating  the  actuiil 
date  by  one  week,  and  on  Monday  evening  there  was  a  grand  Reunion  service,  attended 
by  Drs.  Taylor,  of  Newark,  Clark,  of  Nyack,  N.  Y.,  Vehslage,  of  Irvington,  and  others, 
at  which  remarks  were  made  of  the  most  lively,  witty  and  withal  earnest  and  impressive 
character.  The  tribute  paid  to  their  pastor  by  members  of  the  Consistory  was  especially 
happy.  When  Mr.  John  Merrill  stepped  back,  laid  his  hand  on  Dr.  Bishop's  shoulder 
and  said  very  simply,  "This  man!"  the  effect  was  electric.  Very  feeling  references 
were  also  made,  both  to  the  dead  and  living.  Messrs.  Samuel  W.  Baldwin,  Abram 
Osmun,  and  Henry  W.  Olcott  were  especially  remembered.  Mr.  David  r>ingham  gave  a 
very  touching  description  of  the  first  appearance  of  the  new  petitioners  before  the  Classis ; 
when  the  venerable  Dr.  Taylor,  of  Bergen,  stepped  forward  and  welcomed  the  pastor 
with  tears,  and  Peter  Duryee,  Esq.,  welcomed  as  an  old  friend  and  co-lbunder  of  the  First 
Dutch  church  of  Newark,  Mr.  Samuel  Baldwin. 

Souvenirs  of  the  service  in  orange  and  blue  were  distributed,  and  after  the  Benedic- 
tion and  hearty  hand  shaking,  the  large  congregation  dispersed. 


TEN   YEARS'    REVIEW. 


The   Place,    History    and    Responsibility    of  the   Re- 
formed Church. 


"  IValk  about  Zion,  and  go  round  about  her,  tell  the  towers  iliercof.  Mark  ye  luell  her  bulwarks , 
consider  her  palaces:  that  ye  may  tell  it  to  the  generation  folloiuing.  For  this  God  is  our  God  forever 
and  ezier;  He  will  be  our  Guide  even  unto  death. — Psalm  4S:  12,  13.  • 


The  sovereign  right  to  be,  is  the  Fiat  of  God.  If 
God  says,  "Let  there  be  Light!"  Light  has  a  place 
in  the  universe.  If  God  says  to  Abraham,  "I  will 
make  of  thee  a  great  nation,"  Israel  has  a  place 
because  the  object  of  specific  and  Divine  decree. 
If  Christ  says  to  the  Church,  "I  have  chosen  you 
and  ordained  you  "—the  Church  henceforth  has  a 
place,  on  the  ground  of  the  will  of  her  Master. 
If  again,  Christ  says  to  Paul— "Be  an  apostle !"  his 
right  to  be  and  to  be  recognized  lies  in  the  right 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  call  him. 

It  is  useless— senseless  to  oppose  ourselves,  in 
any  way,  to  such  statements  as  these.  What  we 
must  come  to  at  last  and  may  as  well  come  to  at 
the  beginning  is  a  hearty  graceful  recognition  of 
the  flat  of  Almighty  God  as  final. 

That  is  the  ground  on  which  we  stand  here  as 
a  church— on  none  lower— none  weaker— none 
more  excusable.    We  go  back  to  predestination. 

"High  ground '."  one  may  say.  But  no  higher 
than  the  case  warrants.  No  higher  than  every- 
thing on  earth  is  forced  to  claim  which  has  a 
right— is  right  and  means  to  assert  it. 


Personally  I  am  persuaded  of  as  true  a  call  to 
the  position  which  I  occupy  as  ever  Moses  had, 
or  David  had,  or  Paul  had.  If  these  men  stand- 
ing amid  the  real  and  substantial  monuments 
and  trophies  of  their  work  had  a  right  to  be  rec- 
ognized and  to  be  respected ;  if  David,  for  ex- 
ample could  stand  up  and  fling  abroad  the  chal- 
lenge "What  have  I  now  done?  Is  there  not  a 
cause?  Did  not  the  crisis  of  the  times  demand 
it  ?"  equally  have  I  in  presence  of  those  mighty 
principles  which  God  has  raised  me  up  to  reafBrm 
and  by  His  help  establish— The  Doctrines  of 
Grace :  a  pure  Consistory,  in  both  its  parts,  in 
both  its  Benches;  the  original,  and  scriptural 
and  apostolic  order,  and  the  utter  abolition  of 
Trusteeships,  of  the  secular— with  the  line  sharply 
drawn  between  the  secular  on  earth  and  the  un- 
secular— a  right  to  stand  up  here  and  say  it. 

Ten  years  ago  I  stood  up  on  a  platform  of  rough 
boards  supported  by  two  wooden  horses,  the 
weakest,  most  defenceless  man  perhaps  on  earth, 
a  man  without  a  charge,  without  an  influence. 


6 


witljout  a  Imman  future,  with  tlie  religious  secu- 
lar—I  mean  with  the  strongly  entrenched  system 
of  the  Trusteeship  against  me,  anil  possessing 
the  confldence  of  my  friends  only  in  the  face  and 
at  the  peril  of  constant  counter  Influences  which 
worked  unitedly  and  on  each  individual  heart  to 
undermine  me. 

Yet  for  10  years  God  has  confirmed  my  action 
and  upheld  me  in  the  growing  confidence,  convic- 
tion, conscience  as  I  dare  affirm  of  even  those 
Avho  shared,  at  first,  a  prejudice  against  this 
reformation. 

To-day  we  stand  one  of  the  largest— I  have  it 
from  outsiders  and  am  fain  to  believe  it— most 
solid  foundations  in  Orange.  Solid,  not  In  our- 
selves—God forbid,  since  we  ourselves  are  less 
than  ashes— but  in  God— in  Holy  Principle— in 
the  deep  instincts,  judgments,  moral  affirmations 
of  all  spiritual  men. 

Now,  if  in  these  circumstances,  I,  a  man  so  de- 
livered, so  saved  out  of  all  my  bitter  distresses, 
from  the  shame  and  the  sorrow  lying  Ijcfore— if  in 
these  circumstances  I  should  forget  "the  hole  of 
the  pit  whence  I  am  digged"— I  should  refuse  to 
get  up  and  praise  God  by  an  open  and  formal  ren- 
dition of  all  the  glory  to  Him— I  should  neglect,  at 
this  point,  to  set  up  a  New  Ebenezcr— why  then  I 
should  deserve  to  descend  a  second  time  from  the 
pulpit,  this  time  flung  out  of  it,  and  should  deserve 
tlic  reproltation,  execration,  scorn  of  every  lionest 
and  rightminded  and  God-fearing  man. 

IJut  while  I  speak  of  myself  in  the  first  in- 
stance, I  do  it  only  in  the  sense  of  instrument— 
of  occasion. 

In  one  view  of  it,  certainly  I  was  the  founder 
of  the  Church,  the  cause  of  its  existence,  but  only 
morally,  not  directly.  I  had,  under  the  sugges- 
tion of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  announced  principles 
which  it  was  free  to  you  to  reject:  or  take  up, 
carry  out  and  afflrm. 

My  work  was  done,  the  work  for  which  the 
Lord  brought  me  over  the  mountains  was  done 
the  moment  of  the  dissolution  of  the  pastoral  tie. 
T  then  stood  apart,  my  face  in  another  direction, 
my  plans  in  another  direction.  All  you  had  to  do, 
was  do  notliiug  and  one  single  M-eek  would  have 
seen  me  a  stranger  to  you  and  to  Orange  hence- 


forth in  tills  world  forever.  I  would  have  shaken 
the  dust  from  my  sandals  and  taken  my  staff. 

What  did  you  do  ?  You  took  the  Initiative.  You 
came  to  seek  me.  You  came  to  seek  me  In  the 
persons  of  those  honored  names  which  have  been 
ever  held  by  us  in  high  regard  and  most  grateful 
remembrance. 

You  put  it  to  me  that  God  makes  the  pastoral 
tie  and  that  It  cannot  be  broken  but  with  the 
consent  of  both  parties.  That  constitutionally 
called  and  acting  constitutionally  I  could  not  be 
put  away  for  a  whim,  a  mere  freak  of  self-will. 
That  souls  had  been  born  again  under  me,  many 
souls  who  needed  the  care  of  one  whom  St.  Paul 
calls  their  father  In  Christ.  That  many  others 
had  been  greatly  edified  and  some  who  had  pro- 
fessed conversion  long  before,  brought  to  the 
light,  as  never  they  had  seen  it. 

That  for  me  thus  to  leave  a  people  who  were 
loyal  and  who  would  be  loyal  and  practically  say 
to  them,  "You  must  find  this  teaching  where  and 
how  you  can,"  to  leave  them  thus,  a  flock  with- 
out a  shepherd,  for  I  was  their  shepherd,  and  for 
reasons  which  to  us  had  no  existence,  were  sim- 
ple cowardice  and  not  to  be  excused. 

These  arguments,  suggested  some  from  one 
quarter,  some  from  others,  and  borne  in  upon  me. 
turned  at  last  the  scale.  In  other  words,  you,  in 
the  light  of  conviction  and  led  by  God's  spirit, 
founded  the  Church.  As  I  have  often  said  and 
have  lieen  glad  to  say,  "/  icas  only  a  chip  on  the 
wave."  You  were  the  wave— you  founded  the 
Church. 

Lyric  Hall  was  secured  l)y  you.  An  organ  was 
put  there.  Canvassing  was  done  unknown  to  me. 
I  afterward  understood  that  this  movement  was 
due  In  chief  part  to  Elder  Joseph  B.  Fenby, 
whose  devoted  exertions  -were  earnestly  second- 
ed by  tliose  of  many  '-elect  ladles"  among  us. 
A  meeting  was  arranged  for  Saturday  night 
in  one  of  your  houses,  in  that  very  house 
where  three  of  us  liad  kneeled  in  prayer 
a  day  or  two  before  and  laid  the  whole 
affair  before  the  Lord  and  asked  for  guidance. 
At  tliat  meeting  the  proposal  of  a  new  Church 
was  explained  and  thrown  upon  every  man's 
conscience.  It  was  a  serious  luuK'rtaking  and 
the  time,  a  searching  time. 


Upon  the  Lord's  Day,  April  IStli,  at  10  o'clock, 
Lyric  Hall  stood  open.  Wliat  would  come  of  it  ? 
It  was  a  moment  of  suspense,  of  tension— a  man 
alone  in  a  great  empty  room !  Did  God  call  for 
anytliilig  or  did  He  not  ?  Would  He  sustain  and 
conflrni,  or  would  He  disown  us  ? 

At  lengtti  a  step  was  lieard  upon  the  stair — a 
solitary  step.  Does  he  turn  back  ?  Hark,  what 
is  that  ?  Another  ?  Yes  and  still  another,  and 
then  Tramp!  Tramp!  Tramp!  A  crowding  till 
the  place  was  full  and  more  than  full.  A  scene 
which  tliose  who  witnessed  and  who  shared  it, 
can  never  forget.  I  state  these  things  for  a  few 
simple  and  common  sense  reasons : 

1st— They  are  something  either  to  stand  up  for, 
or  be  ashamed  of.  If  once  in  my  life,  in  a  crisis 
for  God,  I  made  a  fool  of  myself  I  want  to  know 
it,  and  own  it,  and  if,  once  in  ray  life,  in  a  crisis 
for  God  I  had  nerve  enough  to  plant  myself  on 
the  right  side,  if  only  once  in  my  life,  I  want  to 
know  that. 

The  Lyric  Hall  business,  as  I  said  at  the  time, 
was  either  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God  or  that 
of  the  devil.  If  it  \f  as  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  then  it  was  something  to  praise  God  for  to 
all  eternity,  and  to  recall  and  constantly  recall 
with  public  devoutest  expressions  of  grateful 
remembrance ;  l)ut, 

2d— We  have  either  to  stand  by  our  action  in 
founding  this  Church,  or  admit  the  whole  thing 
with  all  its  pretensions  and  all  its  results  to  be 
wrong.  No  end,  however  good,  can  justify  a  bad 
beginning;  and. 

3d— We  are  strong  just  in  proportion  as  we 
stand  up  for  ourselves  and  respect  ourselves,  and 
assert  ourselves— when  right,  and  weak  to  just 
the  degree  in  which  we  allow  ourselves  to  be 
faced  down,  and  shamed  out  of  our  honest  con- 
victions and  driven  back  to  the  wall. 

And  this  parallel  holds  good,  not  only  in  the 
case  of  churches  but  of  men.  The  man  who  be- 
ing right  in  any  matter  dares  not  say  so,  who  for 
the  sake  of  interest,  of  business,  of  any  consid- 
eration whatever  consents  to  muzzle  and  trick 
with  the  truth  and  shuffle  and  play  double,  is  a 

man  bound  to  be  infamous.    He  cannot  in  any 

long  line  of  effort  succeed.    He  has  a  worm  in 


tlie  core  of  him.  He  will  collapse  from  the  cen- 
ter. He  must  go  down.  We  say,  "Nothing  suc- 
ceeds like  success !"  but  mere  success  never  suc- 
ceeds. It  is  a  flash  in  the  pan.  What  succeeds 
and  what  always  succeeds  is  Honor-Vjright 
Honesty;  but, 

4th— God  commands  us  to  read  up  our  record, 
to  go  back  and  praise  Him.  He  says,  "Give  glory 
to  God  before  your  feet  stumble  on  the  dark 
mountains."  The  heaviest  charge  God  brings 
against  His  ancient  people  Is  that  "they  forgat 
His  works."  God  had  no  notion  of  performing 
ten  mighty  miracles,  the  like  of  which  the  world 
had  never  seen,  simply  to  have  them  accepted  as 
helps,  assistance,  conveniences  for  the  time  be- 
ing and  then  passed  along  as  mere  matters  of 
course.  God  rebukes  irreverence,  impiety  and 
heartlessness  so  flagrant.  He  commands  them 
most  of  all  to  celebrate  those  miracles  and  insti- 
tutes the  Passover  to  seal  and  keep  them  ever  in 
remembrance. 

Oh,  but  the  Egyptians,  the  worklliaess  which 
Israel  had  left  behind  would  not  like  it.  How 
could  they  expect  that  their  former  task-masters 
and  neighbors,  would  like  to  hear  them  singing 
to  God,  "Thou  hast  brought  a  vine  out  of  Egypt, 
Thou  hast  cast  out  the  nations  to  plant  it !" 

And  yet  God  said,  "Go  and  sing  it."  "Tell  what 
I  have  done  for  you."    "Celebrate  the  signs  and 
wonders  done  in  the  Land  of  Ham."    "Sing  unto 
the  Lord  for  He  hath  triumphed  gloriously." 
"Tell  what  His  arm  hath  done. 
What  spoils  from  death  He  won. 
Sing  His  great  name  alone. 
Worthy  the  Lamb !" 
Why  not  ?    No  one  knows  "why  not !"    Not  the 
most  timid  Nicodemus  of  us  all  knows  why  not. 
No  one  is  going  to  hurt  us  while  singing  God's 
praises.    No  one  has  hurt  us.    I  appeal  to  any 
man  who  went  through  the  stern  and  the  terrible 
sacrifice,  whether  by  the  founding  of  this  Church 
he  has  lost  anything.    Many  have  gained  influ- 
ence,   a  good  name,    above  all   spiritual  help, 
strength,  hght,  comfort  and  Salvation  by  this 
Church,  but  not  a  man  has  lost  anything.    Not  a 
man  has  any  reason  to  believe  he  would  have 
been  one  cent's  worth  better  off   if  there  had 
never  been  a  Reformed  Church  in  Orange. 


Tlie  Cliurcli  tlieii  lias  a,  iilucc.  First,  liy  ineil-js- 
t illation.  Second,  by  the  uiaiilfest  lielp  ana  ap- 
l)roval  of  God,  and  now  more 

Because  of  wliat  she  is  in  herself.  IJecause  of 
the  purity,  solidity  an<l  divinity  of  lier  principles, 
order  and  practical  workinp. 

We  claim,  as  a  system,  to  be  the  purest  repre- 
sentatives of  Apostolic  Christianity  on  earth. 
We  have  to  claim  this,  for  If  we  did  not  claim  It, 
there  are  many  of  us  who  would  be  obliged,  by 
force  of  conscience,  to  go  out  and  enter  that  still 
purer  representative  to-day.  It  is  not  ancestry, 
nor  education,  nor  taste,  but  stern  conviction 
that  holds  us  true  to  our  beloved  Church  to-day. 

We  claim  lor  our  doctrine,  our  order  and  prac- 
tical workiiit,',  the  will  and  the  Scripture  of  God  ; 
and, 

First  for  the  Doctrine,  for  the  Five  Points  of 
the  Faith  put  steadily,  clearly  and  like  a  five- 
pointed  star. 

1st— We  believe,  right  out  of  God's  word,  in 
Total  Depravity— in  the  Guilt,  Pollution,  and  ab- 
solute Helplessness  of  our  nature. 

2d— We  believe  that  God  hath  mercy  on  whona 
lie  will  have  mercy,  and  that  a  man's  salvation 
depends,  not  first  of  all  on  his  choice,  but  on 
back  of  that  the  antecedent  choice  of  God :  "Ye 
have  not  chosen  me  but  I  have  chosen  you." 

;(d— We  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  died  not  as 
the  Redeemer  of  all  men,  but  of  Ills  people,  and 
that  Ills  people  will  l)e  i)roved  to  be  the  souls 
who  trust  In  Illm. 

4th— We  believe  in  a  real  inward  divine  change 
in  a  man  called  regeneration,  new  birth,  that  a 
man  may  have  many  calls  under  the  Gospel,  but 
only  one  effectual  calling. 

5th— We  believe  that  men  thus  called,  thus 
born  again,  have  In  them  something  that  can 
never  perish  and  can  never  die.  That  no  man 
falls  from  grace,  but  from  the  lack  of  It. 

Those  are  our  principles,  put  in  every  shape 
and  aspect  as  our  platform  for  the  last  ten  years. 
I  doubt  whether  Orange  In  the  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  of  its  existence  has  ever  heard  those 
doctrines  put  so  straight  and  so  unninchingly  by 
so  many  diver.se  but  united  voices  for  any  equal 
length  of  time. 

And  in  those  ten  years,  in  tlie  face  of  jilalncst 


constant  repetition,  they  have  never  been  con- 
futed. Xo  man  has  da'reil  got  up  and  in  set 
terms  deny  them.  If  they  are  to  be  confuted, 
it  must  be  some  time  after  these  ten  years.  But 
they  can  never  be  confuted.  They  claim  to  be 
the  Orthodox  Divinity.  (Jod  attests  them  by  con- 
victions and  conversions  and  all  men  within  their 
consciences  admit  their  claim. 

Then  with  these  principles  the  Order. 

This  goes  on  the  ground  that  the  Church  Is  not 
a  democracy,  not  a  republic,  not  an  organization 
at  all  of  man's  manufacture,  but  a  Christocracy, 
a  kingdom  and  a  government  dictated  and  con- 
trolled by  Christ.  That  "God,"  as  says  St.  Paul 
"hath  in  tlie  Church  set  governments." 

We  learn  from  the  New  Testament  that  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  called  and  commissioned  12 
apostles.  We  know  the  marks  of  an  apostle,  that 
he  personally  must  have  seen  the  Lord,  that  he 
must  be  Inspired  to  write  and  be  infalliljle  in 
teaching. 

The  twelve  Apostles  formed  a  rank  into  which 
I  none  beside  have  ever  been  admitted.  Peerless, 
alone  their  names  are  written  on  the  twelve 
foundations  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  They  existed 
for  a  special  purpose  and  are  the  foundation 
morally  on  which  the  Church  Is  built. 

Cut  beside  these  twelve  we  learn  from  Scrip- 
ture that  God  from  ages  immemorial  has  raised 
up  men  especially  to  teach  Ills  Church.  We  rec- 
ognize such  men  in  Enoch,  Moses,  Samuel,  Ezra, 
and  in  the  New  Testament  In  Timothy,  In  Titus, 
In  Epaphras,  in  Tychicus,  whom  St.  Paul  styles 
"faithful  ministers,"  who  took  the  place,  in  the 
Christian  congregation  or  Synagogue,  of  the  man 
who  was  the  angel  or  the  ruler  of  the  Jewish 
Synagogue  to  which  it  succeeded. 

With  this  man,  called  Chaziin  Ilakencseth, 
ruler  of  the  congregation,  and  Shcliach  Tsibbor 
angel  of  the  church  were  associated  for  inferior 
administrative  duties,  otliers.  Elders,  called 
Tsekenim,  and  by  the  (irceks  /'rcubi/teri,  who 
were  to  have  a  double  honor  in  proportion  to 
their  wise  and  holy,  gentle  shepherdizing,  ic. 
"ruling  well"  the  flock.  In  Acts  H  :  23,  wc  read 
that  "they  ordained  them  elders  in  every 
church." 

And  with  them  Deacons,  Parnassiui.  cilledby 


the  Greeks  Diakoni.  These  in  the  ancient  syna- 
gogue had  charge  of  those  outside  affairs,  made 
necessary  by  its  existence  as  an  orderly  corpo- 
rate body. 

All  this  comes  out  in  Scripture  in  a  thousand 
■ways.  In  I  Timothy  1st  and  2d,  we  have:  1st, 
a  charge  to  the  Pastor.  "This  charge  I  commit 
unto  thee,  son  Timothy,"  ie.  the  Ephesian 
Church.  Then  follow  charges,  first  to  the 
Elders  and  next  to  the  Deacons. 

In  Phil  I:  1,  the  Consistory  is  formally  ad- 
dressed. "To  the  saints  which  are  at  Philippi, 
with  the  Bishops,  or  overseers  and  Deacons." 

This  order  of  government  in  every  local 
Church  by  Benches  of  Bishops  and  Deacons,  we 
hold  to  be  inherent  and  infallible— Divine.  To 
us  no  single  congregation,  without  it,  is  properly 
organized.  Nor  without  it  will  it  ever  be  found 
possible  to  maintain  discipline  upon  the  one 
hand,  unsecularism  on  the  other. 

The  reason  of  the  Trustee,  or  secular  man 
called  in  to  assist  in  controlling  affairs  in  God's 
house,  is,  always,  defective  organization.  A 
church,  for  instance,  without  a  body  of  deacons 
who  link  her  spiritualities,  her  sacraments  to 
her  material  interests,  must  seek  the  help  of  the 
worldly  trustee.  Some  one  must  attend  to  these 
material  interests.  That  is  only  common  sense. 
If  therefore  you  abolish  Christ's  order,  you  must 
make  one  of  your  own.  You  must  do  without 
ordination,  and  without  prayer  and  without 
constitution,  in  other  words  in  the  dark,  by  a 
ring,  by  an  organization  apart  from  and  often 
set  squarely  opposed  to  your  spiritual  govern- 
ment, what  Christ  has  taught  you  to  do  honest- 
ly, holily,  above  board,  under  one  united  ad- 
ministration, in  one  word,  in  His  way  and  with 
these  three  things,  !c.  with  prayer,  ordination 
and  constitution. 

Accordingly,  outside  of  the  Reformed  system 
secular  men  and  corporations  are  found  sharing 
the  affairs  of  every  local  church.  The  only  ex- 
ception which  I  know  is  Plymouthism,  that  ex- 
treme self-will,  which  solves  the  difficulty— what 
a  solution!  by  destroying  the  visible  church,  by 
abolishing,  in  one  fell  back-stroke,  every  offi- 
cer, minister,  elder  and  deacon,  which  Christ 
has  ordained. 


This  trinity  of  officers  and  functions  in  each 
perfect  local  church,  this  body,  soul  and  spirit, 
Alms-giving,  Ruling,  and  Teaching  or  headship 
of  moral  direction,  we  find  and  uphold  from  the 
Scripture— we  receive  and  maintain  from  men 
who  were  not  apostles,  but  after,  inferior  to  the 
apostles,  to  whom  it  was  said,  "The  same  com- 
mit thou  unto  fiiithful  men."  None  but  men 
ordained  can  commit  ordination. 

And  this  trinity  of  functions  and  of  officers, 
in  every  local  church,  is  all  we  find.  AVc  stop 
there.  Less  we  dare  not  allow  on  peril  of  be- 
ing defective.  And  more  we  dare  not  admit  for 
fear  of  presuming  on  Christ.  Our  position  is 
simply  that  of  the  Waldensjan  Brethren,  held 
outside  of  Rome,  since  the  Apostles. 

But  these  Doctrines  and  this  Order  we  propose 
to  hold  not  in  a  sharp  and  angular  and  in- 
sular, but  in  a  large,  magnanimous  and  conti- 
nental way.  Systems  we  know  are  never  strong 
for  being  brutal.  We  count  it  as  our  advantage 
that  our  very  origin— made  up  of  refugees  from 
every  side — a  veritable  Cave  of  Adullam,  as  was 
said  in  the  first  address  from  that  text,  I.  Sam'l, 
23, 1 — 2d,  which  opened  our  services  in  Lyric 
Hall— our  very  origin  like  that  of  the  denom- 
ination to  which  we  belong  has  made  us  a 
Church,  not  of  a  race  or  a  language,  but  of  a  re- 
ligion. 

The  Dutch  Church  never  was  Dutch;  its  cat- 
echism was  written  in  Germany  and  by  Ger- 
mans; its  confession  of  faith  was 
written  by  a  Belgian;  its  Liturgy  was  pre- 
pared by  John  a'Lasco,  a  Pole,  and  re-touched 
by  John  Calvin,  a  Frenchman ;  its  Canons  of 
Dort  were  drawn  up  by  an  Ecumenical  Council 
of  Protestant  Europe  in  which  six  English  bish- 
ops took  part:  its  first  Church  edifice,  because 
of  persecution  in  the  low  countries,  was  Austin 
Friars.  London  ;  its  first  Church  service  was  on 
English  soil;  it  was  the  foster  mother  of  the 
Puritans,  who  after  12  years'  residence  under  the 
eaves  of  Utrecht  and  Leyden.  sailed  from  Delft 
Haven— men  modified  and  moulded  by  that 
residence  to  carry  from  the  Dutch  the  germs — 
would  they  had  carried  more  of  them— which 
went  to  constitute  a  stable,equable  New  England- 

The   Dutch    Church    in    Europe    never    waD 


10 


Dutch,  i.e.  exclusively  as  the  English  was  Eng- 
lish, the  Scotch  Scotch,  the  Genevan  Genevan. 

And  the  Dutch  Church  in  this  land  has  never 
been  Dutch.  To  begin  with  she  was  half  Hu- 
guenot. Dc  Witt,  Vermilye.  llapelye,  De  Peys- 
ter,  Lispenard,  Desbrosses,  Bleekcr,  DeLancey, 
Jay,  Demarcst,  Guion,  Dubois,  Duryea,  and 
scores  of  others  arc  all  French  Huguenot 
names. 

More  than  this,  she  was  in  large  part  Scotch. 
The  first  Covenanting  minister  in  Scotland,  the 
martyr  James  Kenwick,  was  ordained  in  Hol- 
land, where  he  studied  Divinity, by  the  Classisof 
Groningen.  The  Livingstons  of  our  Church, 
Dr.  John  Livingston,  our  first  and  greatest  theo- 
logical professor,  the  man  who  translated  our 
.standards  into  the  quaint  and  beautiful  lan- 
guage in  which  we  read  them  to-day,  was  a  direct 
descendant  of  that  Livingston  of  glorious  mem- 
ory, who,  at  the  Kirk  of  Sehotts,  was  blessed  in 
one  sermon,  to  the  conversion  of  over  500  souls. 

But  time  would  fail  to  speak  of  Laidley,  Drs. 
Knox,  Bethune  and  Ormiston.  Chambers  and 
Campbell,  besides  many  others  of  a  Scotch  ex- 
traction who  on  the  whole  preforrrd  our  pol- 
ity as  being  oldest,  most  complete  ami  least 
adulterate. 

And  if  the  Dutch  Church  thus  received  from 
every  quarter,  she  has  evei  felt  it  her  duty  to 
make  repayment  in  kind.  The  Dutch  Republic 
founded  on  her  religion  was  a  vast  blessing  to 
Europe.  To  William  Prince  of  Orange,  the 
north  of  Ireland,  under  God, owes  its  protestant- 
ism to-day.  The  Orangemen  of  Ireland— the 
Orange,  worn  with  the  blue,  are  the  historical 
witness  of  this.  From  these  and  from  the  fur- 
ther fact  that  thus  conglomerate,  we  have  exist- 
ed strong,  united,  orthodox,  upon  these  shores 
.'!00  years,  it  is  apparent  that  we  cannot  be,  if 
we  wished,  either  narrow,  childish  or  change- 
able. 

AVe  have  not,  at  this  late  day,  to  iind  out  what 
is  our  Polity—What  is  a  Sacrament?  Our  busi- 
ness is  to  push  these  things,  to  thank  God  for 
our  heritage,  and  praying  in  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
seek  for  power  in  service  and  in  saving  souls. 

And  we  have  every  reason  to  think  that  our 
beloved,  unsccular  Order,  with   its  sober  meth- 


ods, its  graceful  as  well  as  gracious  expressions 
of  worship,  its  genial,  generous  as  well  as  dig- 
nified and  self-respecting  spirit,  is  making  its 
proper  and  to-be-expected  advance  between  the 
bald  sternness  of  Puritanism  upon  the  one  hand 
and  the  meretricious  pretensionsof  Ritualism  on 
the  other.  Godhasgivenitlargely  into  the  hands 
of  the  Reformed  Church  to  carry  the  balance-rod 
between  undue  extremes  in  His  Church. 

And  thus  the  thought  of  our  place  has  run  in- 
to the  thought  of  our  History.  Our  own  history  I 
can  but  touch  upon.  Owing  to  the  great  and 
general  public  interest  excited  hy  the  inception 
of  the  movement,  I  have  column  upon  column 
from  the  Orange  papers,  and  Newark  papers, 
and  from  the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Relig- 
ious press. 

It  is  well  that  I  should  recall  perhaps  the  be- 
ginnings. I  quote  now  from  the  Newark  Jour- 
nal the  following  account  of  our  first  service; 

"The  hall  was  crowded  to  overflowing.  The 
services  were  of  an  irregular  character.  Rev. 
Mr.  Bishop  called  upon  any  person  to  lead  in 
prayer.  Mr.  David  Bingham  and  Mr.  John 
Merrill  responded.  The  23d  chap,  of  1st  Sam. 
was  then  read  by  Mr.  Bishop  (the  Cave  of  Adul- 
1am)  and  the  leading  points  explained.  When 
he  had  finished  expounding  the  text  he  said: 
'You  all  know  why  you  are  assembled  here  this 
evening ;  fix  it  in  your  mind  whether  it  is  by  the 
work  of  devil,  or  of  God;  or  if  I  alone  could 
have  brought  you  here.  I  see  many  tearful  eyes 
and  believe  they  are  exhibitions  of  the  workings 
ofGodandnot  of  man.  We  purpose  to  form  a 
new  Church.  There  is  room  for  one  on  a  new 
basis.  The  basis  we  have  chosen  is  the  Reform- 
ed Church  of  America.  AVhy?  Because  in  the 
Church  from  which  we  come  there  is  a  board  of 
trustees,  and  we  do  not  intend  to  trammel  the 
Gospel  with  a  purely  temporal  power.  In  the 
Relormed  Church  the  doctrine  is  the  s;ime,  but 
government  is  in  the  hands  of  the  minister, 
elders  iind  deacons.  Then  too  we  want  to  see  if 
a  church  established  on  the  free-seat  system 
cannot  be  sustained.  We  don't  want  our  Church 
cut  up  in  pieces  and  sold  and  rented  to  pay  for 
the  uiaintenance  of  God's  word.  ' 


11 


He  then  distributed  cards  among  the  people  on 
which  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformed  Church 
in  these  brief  sentences. 

'  The  doctrine  ofgrace  called  Calvinstic  pure 
and  simple. 

'Church  governnicnl  in  the  hands  Christ's  own 
o2icers--the  minister,  the  elders  and  the  deacons 
of  the  Church. 

'In  the  name  of  our  God  will  we  set  up  our 
banners !' 

"The  real  organization  of  the  chuieh  then  fol- 
lowed. Mr.  Bishop  said  he  wished  it  clearly 
understood  by  those  present  that  they  di  I  not 
want  any  one  to  sign  the  petition  he  held  in  his 
hand  which  was  addressed  to  tne  Classis  of 
Newark,  unless  his  mind  was  fully  made  up 
to  take  such  action  ;  further  that  he  could  not 
help  thinking  more  of  those  who.  being  satisfied 
came  forward  at  once  and  made  their  stand  for 
the  principles  they  believed  in,  than  of  those 
who  straggled  in  afterwards  when  its  success 
was  assured. 

"He  then  read  the  following  Petition  : 

"Of  solemn,  hearty  and  deliberate  choice  we 
bind  ourselves  to  God  and  one  another  relying 
only  on  his  Hisgrace  to  walk  together  as  a  Christ- 
ian Church  and  so  unite  in  making  this  petition 
and  request  to  the  Reverend  the  Classis  of 
Newark. 

"We  the  undersigned,  members  in  full  com- 
munion, and  in  good  and  regular  .standing  of 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ;  and  residents  of 
Orange  and  East  Orange  do  hereby  pray  your 
reverend  and  honorable  body  for  corporate  and 
formal  organization  under  the  name  and  title  of 
church,  of  Orange  N.  J.,  cheer- 
fully submitting  upon  our  part,  to  all  your 
doctrinal  standards  and  to  the  government, 
customs  and  usages  of  the  Reformed  Church  in 
America. 

"Before  a  person  signed  the  above  petition  Mr. 
Bishop  in  a  solemn  and  impressive  manner  pro- 
nounced tlieso  words  :  "No  man  having  put  his 
hand  to  the  plough  and  looking  back  is  fit  for 
the  kingdom  of  Heaven  ! 

"When  all  had  signed  who  wished  to,  it  was 
announced  that  the  number  of  communicants 
was  121."    So  far  from  the  account  published   in 


the  Newark  Journal  of  April  19th  1875.  It  gives 
very  little  impression  of  the  solemnity,  tearful- 
ness and  power  attendant  on  that  first  meeting. 
You  all  remember  Father  Osmun's  prayer  and 
how  he  struck  the  key  note  of  the  Church's 
early,  genial,  if  I  may  so  say,  family  spirit.  The 
Journal  soQS  on  to  say  "Mr.  Abram  Osmuu 
hoped  that  one  of  the  features  of  the  new  or- 
ganization would  be  sociability  and  that  the 
congregation  never  would  break  up  without  a 
few  minutes  being  given  to  exchange  the  civili- 
ties of  the  day." 

I  feel  at  this  point  that  it  is  nothing   more 
than  right  and  due  to  a  full  resume  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  our   most  wonderful  birth    as   a 
Church,    to    quote   two    extracts    of  comments 
from  editorials  in  the  Banner  of  the  Covenant, 
Presbyterian,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  from  the  Christ- 
ian Intelligencer,  then  to  us  an  unknown  sheet. 
The  Banner  under  the  heading,  "Itching  Ears 
!  —a  Mistake!"  goes  on  to  say,  "the  trustees  have 
'  asserted  the  right  to  rule   the  church,  and  have 
:  said  in  effect  that  if  the  pastor  did  not  preach  to 
j  fill  the  seats,  down  goes  his  salary.    As  a  matter 
]  of  course  this  attempt  to  make  the  pastor  preach 
;  something  else  than  he  had  solemnly  sworn   to 
preach  must  be  condemned  by  every  honest  man 
and  woman.    No   pastor  who   has    any   proper 
conception  of  his  responsibilities  can  submit  to 
;  such  dictation," 

The  Intelligencer  in  making  reference  to  our 
movement  says  the  following  sound  and  profi- 
table words. 

"Preachers  of  the  Gospel  are  ambassadors  for 
Christ,  whose  first  duty  is  to  obey  their  instruc- 
tions. A  sermon  is  either  a  merely  human  com- 
position subject  to  the  rulesof  ordinary  criticism 
or  it  is  a  message  from  God— a  constituent  part 
of  public  worship  and  claiming  the  reverent  at- 
tention of  those  to  whom  it  is  addressed.  The 
standard  of  judgment  is  not  what  the  people 
wish,  to  please  them,  but  the  balances  of  the 
sanctuary.  A  time  serving  ministry  which 
takes  the  terrors  out  of  the  law,  and  the  Saviour 
out  of  the  Gospel,  will  not  give  offense  by  preach- 
ing unpopular  doctrines,  nor  will  it  alienate  the 
rich,  the  prejudiced  and  influential  people  to 
whom  it  is  as  a  very    lovely    song    of  one    that 


12 


hath  a  pleasant  voice  and  can   play  well  on  an    sent  men  and(Jod-sent  Churches  have  been  of 
instrument.  i  another  complexion  than  that. 

••But  he  who  preaches  the  whole  counsel  of  |  God  has  helped  us  here  from  point  to  point. 
God  is  quite  sure  to  wake  up  its  enemies.  Some  |  In  the  first  place  giving  us  a  lot  in  the  central 
will  go  away  in  a    rage.    Others    will    cry    out,     part  of  the  town  and  on   the 


"Hast  thou  found  me,  oh  mine  enemy?"  "Art 
thou  he  that  troubleth  Israel?"  Some  will  take 
up  stones  to  stone  him,  and  others  will  move  t<> 
cast  him  out  of  the  Synagogue. 

"Now  what  shall  he  do?  just  what  St.  Paul  did 
when  he  wrote  to  the  Galatians  about  certain 
false  brethren  who  came  in   privily  to  spy  out 


mam  street.  Who 
does  not  see  in  the  fact  that  we  could  control 
the  location,  who  does  not  see  in  the  generosity 
of  Mr.  Samuel  W.  Baldwin,  one  of  the  chief 
founders  of  the  Church,  a  singular  providence. 

Suppose  wo  had  gone  upon  a  back  street. 
Does  any  man  in  his  senses,  humanly  speaking, 
assert  that  we  would  have  done  f|uite  as   well? 


our  liberty  which  we  have  in  Christ  Jesus,  that  I  T\,i(.a  nf,t  «„o,.„  ,  •    .u- 

I  J>oes  not  every  one  see  in  thus,  as  it  were,  strate- 

tbey  might  bring  us  into  bondage  :  to  whom  we 
gave  place  by  subjection,  no,  not  for  one  hour, 
that  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  might  continue 
with  you. 


gic  movement  of  God,  the  practic:i  I  gift  of  suc- 
cess to  any  faithful  endeavor? 


"The  Lord  will  provide  for  those  faithful  and 
brave  souls  who  stand  fast  in  the  liberty  where- 
with Christ  has  made  us  free.  And  no  true- 
hearted  minister  of  the  Gospel  will  hesitate  to 


God  has  helped  us  from  point  to  point.  On 
Monday,  P.  M..  April  26th,  the  application  for  a 
church  organization  -,Tas  received  by  the  Classia 
of  Kewark,  convened  in  the  North  Reformed 
Church  of  Newark,  and    on   M'^ednesday,   May 


meet  the  crisis.     When  it  comes,  reformation,  or  |  ^~^^'  ^^"^  o-'S'ini^-itio"  wa..,  by  the  Classis,  per- 
fected.   A    committee   consisting   of   Rev.  Dr. 


revolution  will  be  the  necessary  result,  hut  he 
will  give  place  by  subjection,  no,  not  ior  one 
hour." 

Such  was  the  work  done  April  18,  1875.  Such 
•were  the  comments  on  the  work.  IIow  has  it 
since  been  justified? 

1st— By  a  steady  and  uninterrupted  growth. 
Of  Israel  God  said,  "Sing:  A  vineyard  of  red 
wine,  I,  the  Lord  do  keep  it :  I  will  water  it 
every  moment,  lest  any  hurt  it,  I  will  keep  it 
day  and  night." 

God  has  kept  and  watered  for  ten  years  this 
vineyard  of  red  wine,  this  witness  for  a  special 
blood  atonement. 

He  has  kept  and  watered.  Growth  is  an  im- 
portant mark  of  favor,  "I  will  increase  you  with 
men  like  a  flock."  If  you  have  a  pretended  con- 
venticle of  extra  spirituality  anywhere,  and 
that  thing  does  not  grow  and  does  not  push  con- 
version and  does  not  care  for  any  such  demons- 
trations as  a  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  for 
power  to  shake  a  dead  community  and  pluck 
men  as  brands  from  the  fire,  you  may  stop  just 
where  ycu  are,  you  lack  the  very  first  mark  of  a 
heaven-sent  witness.    All  down   the  ages  God- 


Terhuue,  and  Messrs.  Hart  and  Vehslage.  and 
Elders  Frederick  T.  Frelinghuysen  and  Benja- 
min C.  Miller,  met  in  Lyric  Hall  and  received 
the  letters  on24  members  of  the  Second  Presby- 
terian (Brick)  Church,  besides  those  of  a  few 
others.      The    following    oBicers  were    elected: 
Eldkrs  :    Samuel  W.  Baldwin,  David  Bingham, 
.John  L.  Merrill,  Jotham   II.  Condit,  Joseph   B. 
Fenby,    Walter   Tomkins,    Abram    P.    Osmun. 
Dkaco.vs:    Simeon  Simmons,  Robert  M.  Lynd, 
James   Martin,    George    Douglass,    George   E. 
Brinckerhoft",  George  P.  Olcott,  Edward  I.  Condit. 
In  the  evening  the  Kev.  Dr.  W.  J.  R.  Taylor 
preached  the  sermon  from  Eph.  II:  20,22.  and 
the  Elders  and  Deacons  were  then  installed,  the 
Ministers  r'resent  laying  their  hands  upon  the 
heads  of  those  not  already  ordained,  and  setting 
them  ap.irt   to    the   duties  of  their   respective 
offices  in  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son 
and  of  the  Holy  ({host. 

The  new  Consistory  then  retired  for  a  few  mo- 
ments and  on  their  return  announced  that  they 
had  called  the  Rev.  George  S.  Bishop  as  Pastor. 
Their  action  was  ratified  by  a  unanimous  vote  of 
the  Church. 


13 


On  Tuesday.  May  25th,  the  chosen  Pastor  was 
installed-  The  sermon  was  at  that  time 
preached  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  David  Inglis  from 
Isa.  60  :  L3.  "And  I  will  malce  the  place  of  my 
feet  plortous .'"  The  Installation  Form  was  read 
by  the  Rev.  J.  Pascal  Strong.  President  of  the 
Classis.  and  the  charge  to  the  Pastor  delivered 
by  the  Rev.  W.  11.  Clark,  (now  Dr.  Clark),  of 
Paterson,  and  that  to  the  people  by  Dominie 
Vehslage.  of  Irvington. 

The  first  Communion  of  the  Church  was  cele- 
brated on  Sunday  morning,  June  6th,  when  it 
was  announced  that  four  had  been  received  on 
Confession  of  Faith.  It  was  also  announced  that 
all  names  previous  to  this  date  would  be  regard- 
ed as  among  the  founders  of  the  Church. 

On  Thursday,  September  ;iO,  1875,  ground  was 
broken  for  the  new  Church.  After  singing  and 
prayer,  the  Pastor  pronounced  these  words  of 
inauguration  : 

"In  the  name  of  God  the  Father  Almighty  ! 

"In  the  name  of  God  the  Son  our  faithful  and 
Beloved  Saviour ! 

"In  the  name  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost  our  Quick- 
ener  and  Comforter! 

"In  the  name  of  the  One  God  of  Heaven  and 
earth — the  God  of  Election,  Redemption  and  He- 
generation— {ho  God  of  Free  Grace,  the  Gospel 
and  Glory,  we  now  break  the  ground  for  a  tem- 
ple to  stand  to  His  honor  and  praise  !'' 

"The  ground,"  says  the  East  Orange  Gazette, 
"was  then  broken  by  Mr.  Abram  Osmun,  the 
senior  member  of  the  Consistory,  the  Dominie 
taking  a  pick-axe  and  working  out  the  five 
points  of  Calvinism  around  the  spot  where  the 
spade  touched  the  earth." 

On  Thursday,  April  27, 1876,  the  Corner  Stone 
was  laid  in  presence  and  by  the  assistance  of 
representatives  of  the  Classis  of  Newark. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor  offered  prayer. 

After  the  salutation  and  Lord's  Prayer,  Ps.  87 
was  read  responsively  :  "His  fonndation  is  in 
the  Holy  mountains.  The  Lord  lovcth  the  gates  of 
Zion  more  than  all  the  dicellings  of  Jacob !" 
The  Rev.  C.  R.  Blauvelt  followed  with  a  selec- 
tion from  the  First  Epistle  of  St.  Peter. 


The  Corner  Stone  contains  a  box  enclosing  the 
Bible,  the  Constitutien  of  the  Dutch  Church, 
and  a  history  of  our  own  Church,  prepared  by 
the  Clerk  of  the  Consistory,  Elder  .Joseph  B. 
Fenby. 

After  the  singing  of  the  hymn,  "Crown  the 
Saviour  1"  the  Domiiie  taking  a  mallet  pointed 
to  the  corner  stone  on  which  was  engraved  the 
five  pointed  star  emblematic  of  the  five  points 
of  grace. 

Then  striking  the  stone  three  times  with  the 
mallet,  he  said :  "I  lay  the  corner  stone  of  a 
House  to  be  erected  and  devoted  to  the  service 
of  Almighty  God.  'In  the  name  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost!  Amen. 
"Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is 
laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ,"  Nisi  Dominus 
Frustra!  "Except  the  Lord  build  the  house 
they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it!" 

On  Sunday,  Octobers,  1876,  just  one  year  and 
a-half  from  our  first  service  in  Lyric  Hall,  we 
entered  this  Church.  The  formal  dedication  of 
the  edifice  to  God  did  not,  however,  take  place 
until  afterward,  as  a  debt  still  remained  on  the 
Church. 

This  debt  of  about  §5,000  was  removed  three 
years  later,  and  on  Sunday,  October  26. 1879,  the 
Church  was  formally  dedicated  to  the  service  of 
Almighty  God.  The  sermon  preached  at  that 
time  styled  "An  Exposition  of  Reformed  Prin- 
ciples," was  printed  in  very  handsome  form  at 
the  request  and  under  the  direction  of  the 
Consistory. 

God  has  helped  us  thus  from  point  to  point. 
During  10  years  I  have  never  but  once,  and  then 
only  in  part  repeated  a  sermon. 

Fifteen  sermons,  in  editions  of  1,000  and  2,000 
making  in  all  18,000  copies  and  about  288,000 
pages  have  been  printed  and  scattered  abroad. 
Some  of  them  have,  the  last  in  the  last  number  of 
the  New  York  Observer,  as  also  in  the  Christ- 
ian Intelligencer  been  very  kindly  and  heartily 
commended  for  their  soundness  and   power. 

For  one  year  your  pastor  was  editor  of  the 
Gospel  Sower,  then  a  semi-monthly,  which  in 
one  month  gained   1,000   new    subscribers  and 


14 


during  the  year  extended  its  circulation  from 
.i.fiOO  to  more  than  5,000.  The  editorials,  written 
with  but  two  exceptions  by  myself,  were  main- 
ly republications  of  sermons  preached  in  this 
pulpit.  Thus  by  your  help  I  had  an  audience 
of  about  15,000  persons  and  much  was  done  in 
the  way  of  reviving  the  ancient  spiritual  feeling 
of  the  whole  Church. 

We  began  April  18th,  1875,  with  124  communi- 
cants. We  reported  to  the  Classis  last  Tuesday 
J  an  even  400.^Five  hundred  and  forty  names 
{  have  been  written  on  our  roll,  and  236  have  been 
added  on  the  Confession  of  Faith.  Five  hundred 
and  twenty-two  in  all  have  been  added  under 
my  ministry  of  12  years  since  coming  to  Orange. 
It  is  proper  also  to  add  that  one  whc'lo  year  of 
lirolonged  absence  in  Europe  and  other  absences 
besides  this  have  been  compelled  by  the  state  of 
my  health. 

I  speak  of  the  Pulpit,  but  what  is  not  also  due 
to  the  Consistory  and  to  the  pews,  especially  to 
the  Sunday  School  department?  We  shall 
never  forget  our  honored  dead,  nor  ought  we  to 
forget  our  honored  living.  The  tribute  paid  to 
your  Sunday  School  Superintendent  last 
Christmas  is  the  attestation  of  your  deep,  grate- 
ful sense  of  his  work  and  his  worth.  You  have 
honored  yourselves  in  doing  him  honor.  We 
shall  always  honor  God,  and  ourselves  by  ex- 
hibiting the  appreciation  and  the  gratitude  of 
holy,  tender,  cultivated  hearts. 

And  now  my  brethren  what  are  some  of  the 
reflections  at  this  stage  of  progress  upon  our  re- 
sponsibility? 

The  figure  10  denotes  responsibility.  Favors 
lay  claims.  Grace  compels  gratitude.  The  past 
presses  on  us  an  avalanche  of  Mercy's  Divine 
obligations.  What  are  we  to  do  in  that  case? 
what  are  the  Lessons  ?  what  is  the  outlook  ? 

1st— Our  history  teaches  us  the  hlesning  and 
fhe  benrfit  of  putting  God  first.  "I  have  set  the 
Lord  always  before  me,"  says  David.  The  glory 
of  God.  How  will  this  be  as  toward  God?  How 
honor  God?  that  was  his  mark. 

Most  men  fail  here.  If  we  think,  wc  shall  see 
that  we  fail  here.  Nine  out  of  every  ten  mis- 
takes wo  make  are  made  because  we  think  of 
ourselves  first,  our  preference,  our  notion,  or 
our  vanity;  or  other  people's  preference  or  no- 
tions or  vanity,  and  not  of  the  Honor  of  God. 


Men  say,  "I  did  not  think!"  Yes.  but  wc 
ought  to  think,  to  imitate  David,  to  put  the 
Lord  first  of  all.  In  business,  in  pleasures,  in 
practical  judgments,  in  courses  of  conduct,  in 
methods  of  service  to  have  it  written  up  high 
and  written  up  bright.  Nisi  Dominus  Frustra  .' 
Nothing,  nothing,  nothing  without  God  ! 

2d — Our  history  makes  us  responsible  fo  hold 
oursclvcn  steady  and  steadfant  in  one  ponition. 
The  fact  that  God  has  so  blessed  us,  confirmed 
us,  is  reason  enough  for  maintaining  the  things 
which  we  have,  which  arc  always  "ready  to  die." 
The  Theocratic  principle  is  always  ready  to  be 
broken  down,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that 
men  are  by  nature  wilful  and  restless.  Now 
conservatism  in  regard  to  Gospel  institutions 
has  in  it  much  of  religion.  If  any  changes  are 
to  be  made  God  who  has  so  kindly  taught  us  so 
far  "will  reveal  even  this  unto  us."  Meanwhile 
we  can  wait,  especially  with  the  crowning,  over- 
whelming blessing  of  God  pouring  down  upon 
us  continuously,  we  can  wait,  borrowing  before- 
hand, in  the  exercise  of  patience,  a  little  por- 
tion of  God's  own  eternity. 

The  students  in  New  Brunswick  sing  about 
the  college: 

"There  she  has  stood  irom  the  diiys  of  the  flood. 
On  the  banks  of  the  Old  Karitan  !" 

That,  of  course,  in  one  sense  is  nonsense  but, 
in  another,  it  is  the  expression  of  a  mighty  prin- 
ciple, llutgers  dates  back  to  Utrecht,  Utrecht  to 
the  changeless  principles  of  grace. 

AVhat  we  have  here  to-dny,  comes  down  to  us, 
in  the  vicissitudes  and  flux  of  ages,  from 
David's  time,  from  Moses'  time.  Il.ad  you  gone 
into  a  Synagogue  in  the  time  of  David— and 
David  tells  about  the  Synagogue  in  Psalm  74, 
the  8th  verse— you  would  have  seen  precisely  the 
same  arrangement  of  Pulpit,  Elder's  Bench  and 
Deacon's  Bench,  which  jou  see  here  to-day. 
The  institution  is  an  old  one  sanctioned  by  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  by  the  constant 
practice  and  precept  of  the  Apostles.  St.  .James 
in  hi?  epistle  calls  the  church  "the  synagogue." 
The  institution  is  an  old  one  and  commands 
respect.  It  is  worth  holding  to  a  little  longer, 
especially  in  these  relaxing,  rationalizing, 
ritualizing  days;  and, 

od— We  are  responsible  for  more,  to  push  the 
thinii.  God  has  shaped  for  us  a  five  sided 
wedge.  Our  work  is  to  drive  the  wedge  homo, 
to  pray,  labor  and  urge  it. 

What  might  wo  have  done  in  these  ten  years 
had  we  had  larger  confidence  in  baptisms, down- 
pourings  of  the  Holy  Ghost ! 

Yet  it  is  not  too  late.  The  time  will  come,  I 
verily  believe  it,  when  this  Church  will  enjoy 
an  old-fashioned,  pure  and  mighty  revival. 
May  God  grant  it  and  to  His  name  be  the  praise! 


PHOTOMOUNT 
PAMPHLET  BINDER 

•AY4.OA0  BROS.  Im. 
SvfMu**,  N.  Y. 
Stsdtton,  C*M. 


BX9517.5.06R3B6 

Ten  years' review  .the  place,  history 

rnili"lir?;.'l'f,?:.°?,'?^,'.S5?':"^;y-Speer  Library 


■^  'm,^ 


vw  .^ 


